Station-indicator for railways.



H. M. VAN DEMARK. STATION INDIOA'IOR FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED FIE-13.1, 1908.

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H. M. VAN DEMARK. STATION INDICATOR FOR RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION IILED FEB. 1, 190a. 1,053,330. Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH C0 WASHINGTON, o.

H. M. VAN DEMARK. STATION INDIGATOR FOR RAILWAYS. APPLIOATION FILED FEB.1, 1908.

1,053,330. Patented Feb. 18,1913.

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COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH COHWASHINGTONI D. c.

HOWARD M. VAN DEMARK, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

STATION-INDICATOR FOB RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1913.

Application filed February 1, 1908. Serial No. 413,746.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HOWARD M. VAN Dn- MARK, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Brooklyn, in the countyof Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and ImprovedStation-Indicator for Railways, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to means for properly operating a band or stripof suitable material bearing thereon in proper order the names of thestat-ions to be indicated, visible only through a suitable openingtherefor in a casing for the band and such other parts of theannunciator as it may, according to circumstances, be desirable toinclosewithin such casing.

As my present invention has to do only with the means for properlyadvancing the band or ribbon having the names of the stations thereon, Ihave herein shown and described, and that too diagrammatically, onlysuch mechanism as is necessary for the accomplishment of this result.The casing for the apparatus and the support for the different partsthereof, forming no part of my present invention, are not shown orreferred to herein.

My invention comprises a band of the character above indicated, operablysupported upon suitable wheels or drums, one of which is angularlyadvanced in the right direction by means of electromagneticallycontrolled apparatus on the car under the control of cooperatingmechanism external to the car and adjacent to the pathway thereof.

Special features of my present invention comprise, means forautomatically determining the direction of the travel of the stationindicator band by the direction of the travel of the car and also meansfor preventing any chance or improper action of the annunciatormechanism under any and all conditions of ope-ration of the car.

The accompanying drawings illustrating, diagrammatically only suchfeatures of an annunciator system as are essential to the embodiment ofmy invention therein, are as follows Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view ofthe circuit connections for the entire system. Fig. 2 is a diagrammaticview of the connection with the trolley circuit of the engaging membersexternal to the car. Fig. 3

is a diagrammatic View similar to Fig. 1, but showing the engagingmembers external to the car in a different location, and an ad ditionalrelay R which is necessitated thereby.- Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic planview of the mechanism for intermittently operating the band carrying thenames of the stations, and Fig. 5 is a side view of the parts seen inFig. 1. Fig. 6 shows diagrammatically the means which I employ forproviding for an excessive length of the band carrying the names of thestations.

Referring to the drawings,-T is the trolley wire to which there areconnected the contact members UU, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2, locatedalong the pathway of the car, one near each station and on the sidethereof toward the next succeeding station. The contact members U areoperatively connected, as indicated in diagram in Fig. 2, and thetrolley wire T is connected by wire 39 to the source of electric energyK at the distributing or power station, from which the wire 40 leads toground 72 as seen also in Figs. 1 and 3. These members U are adapted tobe engaged or contacted with by mem bers carried by the car in themanner to be explained.

T is the trolley connected by Wire 14 to the motor M, which is groundedby means of wire 2 in the usual way upon the iron work of the truck andthrough the wheel W and rail T Wire 13 is connected to wire 14. Oneterminal of the coil 13 is connected by wire 25, and one terminal of thecoil C is connected by wire 27 through wire 26, to the ground connection2 of the motor. The other terminal of the coil B is connected by wire 15through contacts f to wire 16, while the other terminal of the coil 0 isconnected by wire 17 through contacts 6 with wire 16. Wire 16 isconnected through contacts a with wire 18, which is connected to wire13. Wire 13 is also connected to one terminal of the coil of electromagnet A, the other terminal of which is connected by wire 12 to Wire 11which may be connected either through contacts 6 or through contacts fto wire 5.

In the circuits in my annunciator there are included switches 2?, t andt Switch 25 has only one operative position on a closed contact and isshown in Figs. 1 and 3 in such position, while in the same figures,switch 25 is shown upon one of its two opand wire 20 to contact erativeand closedcircuit contacts, the other operative contact therefor is seenat in these figures and switch 23 is shown in these figures upon one ofits operative and closed circuit contacts, the other operative contactfor this switch 25 being shown in these figures at 6 'A wire 29 extendsfrom a common connection between the contacts t and t in each of thesefigures and is connected to the wire 14, the other connections of whichwill be described later. Wire 5 is connected by wire 6, through switch twith wire 7, which in turn is connected by wire 8 to ground wire 2.

One terminal of the coil B is connected through wire 3 and switch t wire10, contacts (Z and wire 1 to the contact member it carried by the car.The other terminal of the coil B is connected by wire 4 through contacts6 wire 5, wire 6, switch 2", wire 7 and wire 8 to ground wire 2. Oneterminal of the coil C is connected through wire 23, switch t wire 22,contacts (21, wire 21, 16 carried by the car, while the other terminalof this coil O is connected by wire 24 through contacts f wire 5, wire6, switch If, wire 7 and wire 8 to ground wire 2.

One terminal of the coil D is connected through wires 28 and 1 tocontact u. One terminal of coil D is connected by wires 31 and 20 tocontact U The other terminals ofthe coils D and D are connectedrespectively by wires 32 and 19 toWire 30, thence through wire 8 toground wire 2. Contacts 6 and t of switches t and 25 respectively, areconnected through wire 29 with wire 14 and therethrough to the-trolleycircuit. The

contact U is of such a length relative to the lengths and distancesapart of the contacts a and a that both such contacts a and a willsimultaneously engage fora brief interval the contact U. In Figs. 1 and2 the ele ments U are shown diagrammatically as connected by wires 9with the conductor from the power station comprising the sourceofelectric energy for propelling the vehicle, which source it ispreferable, when such vehicle is electrically propelled, to employ asthe source of electric energy for the electrically controlled actuatingmechani'sm of the station indicator on the car. Such elements U may,overhead trolley is used, be preferably located directly on the trolleyto form lateral extensions thereof and in this case the engaging.members u and u will be carried by the trolley pole but insulated fromeach other. This latter arrangement is indicated for one element U inFig. 3 at U and for the engaging members a and u in Fig. 3 at a and 14The proper connections for the engaging members a and a which it shouldbe noted diagrammatically illustrate a preferred location of suchmembers, are

however, when an through wires 37 and 38. ire 37 is connected to wires 1and 28 and wire 38 is connected to wires 21 and 31.

The order of the engagement of the contacts u and a with contact U isdetermined by the direction of the travel of the car, which we willsuppose is from left to right. Contact it therefore first engagescontact U and a circuit is then established as follows: beginning withcontact u, through wire 1, contacts (Z wire 10, switch t wire 3, coil B,wire 4, contacts 6 wire 5, wire 6, switch t, wires 7 and 8 to groundwire 2. Simultaneously, however, with this circuit, thus established,the coil D is energized by being placed in the following circuit, viz.:starting with contact u, wire 1, wire 28, wire 19, wire 30 and wire 8 toground Wire 2. The coil B being energized, the armature Z) is drawn tothe right, tending to more firmly close contacts 6 opening contacts fand closing contacts 1 and f. The result of this is that the followingcircuits are established :-first, from the trolley circuit through thewires 14 and 13, to and through coil A, Wire 12, wire 11, contacts fwire 5, wire 6, wire 7 and wire 8 to ground wire 2; second, startingwith wire 13, through wire 18, contacts a wire 16, contacts f, wire 15,coil B wire 25, wire 26 and wire 8 to ground wire 2.

The coil B when energized serves to hold the armature b to the right,after the contact M has left the contact U. During the time that coils Bor B are energized, the magnet A is holding the armature a to the right.When the contact a engages the contact U, which occurs just before thecontact it leaves contact U, there is a circuit established throughcontact u wire 20, wire 31, coil D, wires 32, 30 and 8 to ground wire 2,thus energizing the coil D, which alone, however, is not sufficient todraw the armature d to the. left and open contacts d and d but when thecoils D and D are both energized, then armature d is drawn to the leftand then either coil D or D alone if energized is suflicient to hold thearmature d to the left and thus hold contacts 0Z and 01 open. The resultof this is that, contacts 0? and 03 being open, after the contact uleaves the contact U and while the contact a is still on contact U, thecoil C cannot be energized by reason of the contact a being in contactwith the contact U, because the contact al being open anl located in theenergizing' circuit, as clearly indicated, of coil C, such coil cannotbe energized, and this condition obtains under all conditions-even ifthe car stops with contact a on contact U, the coil O cannot beenergized. So long as contact it remains on contact U, the coil Bremains energized and armature b is held to the right. The energizingcircuit of coil B is closed through contacts 7 and also through contactsat, hence, as soon as the magnet A has drawn the armature at to itsextreme right hand position and opened contacts a the energizing circuitof the coil B is opened and such coil is denergized, but this cannotoccur until just at the completion of the operative stroke of thearmature a. This condition is provided in order that should the contacta leave the contact U before the magnet A, which is comparatively slowin its operation, has drawn the armature a to its extreme right handosition and made one complete operation of the indicator, the coil Bbeiiig still energized, holds the armature b to the right and maintainsthe coil A in its energizing circuit through the contacts 7.

Suppose the car stops with contact u on contact U-the coil B isenergized and remains in its energizing circuit, hence the coil Aremains energized and even if the energizing circuit of the coil B isopened through con-tacts a still, the magnet A holds the armature a toits extreme right hand position and there can be no repeated or improperaction of the mechanism controlled by the magnet A. Again, if thecont-act it leaves contact U before the armature a is drawn to itsextreme right hand position the coil B still remains in its energizingcircuit, holding the armature b to the right and maintains coil A in itsenergizing circuit until armature a has reached its extreme right handposition, thereupon c'oil B is deenergized by the opening of contacts mpermitting armature b to return to its initial position, th=us openingthe contacts f and def-Energizing coil A.

The armatures b and 0 are connected together, as seen in Figs. 1, 3, 4and 5, through a bar V, carrying bearings o and '0 in which arerevolubly supported the shafts r and 7", respectively. Supported fromthis bar V is seen the contact-actuating bar P, carrying a series ofupwardly extending pins 7) arranged to engage and operate the spring andmovable members 0, 0 0 a, n and M, respectively, of the pairs ofcontacts 6, e e 7", f and F. The shaft 1" has rigidly secure-d thereonspur gears g and 9 The shaft 1 has rigidly secured thereon the spurgears and g. The ribbon or band carrying roller G is revolubly supportedin bearing plates H and upon the shaft r which carries the gear 9adapted to intermesh with either the gear 9 or 9 according as thearmature Z) is drawn to the right or armature is drawn to the left.Revolubly supported upon studs r and rtprojecting from the uprights mformed on the portion of the framework Y are seen two spur gears g and gintermeshing with each other, the gear 9 having connectd therewith theratchet wheel S adapted to be engaged by the springactuated pawl .9carried by the swinging tacts f wire 5, wire 6,

lever and articulating with the left hand end of the bar If, upon theright hand end of which is secured the armature a arranged to be drawnto the right under the influence of the magnet A. A spring a operates,as

indicated, to hold the lever h and the bar it in their extreme left handpositions. The bar k carries an upward projection h adapted to engagethe movable and springactuated member n of the contacts (1 The gears gand g are arranged to intermesh and engage and be operated by,respectively, the gear 9 and the gear 9 according as the armature 0 isdrawn to the left or the armature b drawn to the right. Thus it will beseen that the energizing of the coil B or the coil B either one or bothof them, drawing the armature b to the right, causes the gears g and gto intermesh and simultaneously also the gears g and g to intermesh, andthe simultaneous energizing of the magnet A with the energizing of thecoils B or 13, either one or both of them, by moving the armature a tothe right, causes a movement of the indicator band O upon the drum G inone direction, while similarly the energizing of the coils C and Ceither one or both of them, simultaneously with the energizing of thecoil A, causes a movement in the opposite direction of the stationindicator band 0 upon the drum, G.

If the car be traveling from right to left, the contact M1 engaging withcontact U causes, first, the energizing of the coil C from followingcircuit: starting with contact u wire 20, wire 21, contacts 03 wire 22,switch t wire 23, coil C, wire 21, conswitch t, wire 7, wire 8 to groundmm 2. Simultaneously also the following circuit is closed: commencingwith contact u wire 20, wire 31, coil 1), wire 32, wire 30 and wire 8 toground wire 2. The energizing of coil C draws the armature 0 to theleft, closing contacts 6 and e and opening contacts 6 Upon the closingof contacts a, the coil C is energized through the following circuit:starting from the trolley circuit through wires 14 and 13, wire 18,contacts a wire 16, contacts 6, wire 17 coil C wires 27 and 26 and 8 toground wire 2. The coil C remains energized therefore until the contactsa in its energizing circuit are opened by the movement of the armature ato its extreme right hand position. During this time, however, magnet Ahas been energized, through the following circuit, viz.: starting withtrolley circuit through wire 14, wire 13, coil A, wire 12, wire 11,contacts 6 wire 5, wire 6, switch 15, wires 7 and 8 to ground wire 2.Thus it will be seen that the energizing of coil A takes placeregardless of the direction of the travel of the car. It will be notedalso that by reason of the coils D and D the energizing plete movementof the of either one alone of which is insuflicient to draw the armatured to the left, but the energizing of both of which draws the armature (Zto the left, that such armature d is drawn to the left once each timethat the contacts a and u are simultaneously engaged with the contact Uand held there as long as either contact u or a engages the contact U,there is prevented an improper energizing of either the coil B or C. Itwill also be seen that according to the direction of the travel of thecar, either the coil B or C is energized and that when one of such coilshas been energized, the magnet A is energized and remains energizeduntil the completion of the operative movement of the armature a andthat the armature Z2 is held to the right or the armature 0 to the left,according to the direction of the travel of the car, by the energizingrespectively of the coils B or C and that such coils B or C remainenergized until the opening of their energizing circuit through thecontact a by the movement to its extreme right hand position of thearmature a. Thus it will be seen that the proper angular advance and inthe proper direction of the drum G is provided for, regardless of thedirection or the rate of travel of the car, or whether it stops with oneor both or neither of the contacts u and u in engagement with thecontact U.

The connecting bar V is supported from the frame-work of the machine Nby the links n, as seen in Fig. 5, and as seen in Figs. 1, 3 and at,diagrammatically, the armatures .b and c are held in neutral position bymeans of springs b and 0 respectively the direction of whose movement istoward the fixed stops 6 and 0 respectively, and by which their motionis limited-in a way to normally maintain a neutral position of thearmatures b and 0.

The indicator band 0 carries the names of the stations, which may bevisible through a proper opening therefor in any suitable casing, whichmay be provided for such parts of the indicator as it is desired toinclose in this way, and the angular advance given to the drum G foreach coniarmature a is just sufiicient to advance the indicator band Qby that amount suflicient to expose to view the next indication thereon.

lVhen there is a large number of stations to be indicated, necessitatinga great length of the band 0, such band may be disposed to and fro andsupported on rollers in the manner clearly indicated in Fig. 6. The drumG carries pins 0 adapted to engage through suitable holes therefor 0 inthe edge of the indicator band 0.

When the engaging members to and a are carried by the trolley pole asindicated at o and a in Fig. 3 and the elements U following points,

each

,whereby the coil A may energizing circuit, at least so far as the atapoint are located as indicated at U in Fig. 3, it sometimes occurs thatupon the disengagement of the trolley wheel, carried b the pole T fromthe trolley T, that before such trolley wheel is replaced the engagingmember's u or M, indicated at n and u in Fig. 3, may contactaccidentally with the trolley wire T. This would result in an improperactuation of the station indicator. To obviate this difficulty, I makethe following provision :The energizing coil of the relay R is connectedby wire 33 to the trolley circuit and by wires 34 and 8 to the groundconnection 2 of the motor. The coil of such relay R is of high resistance and adapted to receive the full potential of the trolleycircuit. lVhen the coil R is energized, the armature r is drawn therebyto close the pair of contacts 1", the fixed one of which is connected bywire 35 to wire 5, while wire 36 connects the armature r with thecontact point of switch 25'. The result of this connection is, when thevehicle is electrically propelled from an overhead trolley circuit, thatwhen the trolley wheel is disengaged from the trolley wire T, theretracting spring of armature 1 operates to open the pair of contacts 7*and under these conditions neither of the coils D or D can be energizedas the circuit thereof is broken at the pair of contacts 1.

I desire to call especial attention to the viz :-In my present inventionit is wholly immaterial what source of electric energy is made use offor the purpose of energizing the several coils shown and mentionedherein. It is also equally immaterial whether such source be the samefor all of such coils or whether coil be energized from a separatesource of electric energy, provided only, however, that some means isemployed be retained in its mechanism of my invention carried by the caris concerned, until the completion of each operative stroke to the rightof the armature a, when such coil A is energized from a source ofelectric energy external to the car, it is desirable to provide meanswhereby upon the opening of such circuit external to the car beforethe'completion of the operative movement to the right of the armaturea,-such, for instance, as the opening of the trolley circuit from anycause, whether by rupture orby the disengagementof the trolley, fromwhich, in the illustration of my invention shown in the drawings, thecoil A is energized,-only one complete and proper actuation of the drumG can occur as the result of any number of such openings of such circuitand reestablishment thereof, and this result may preferably beaccomplished by making the angular space between the teeth on theratchet wheel S just equal to the angular advance to be given to thedrum G by each proper and complete actuation or movement of the armaturea. Contacts t and t for the switches t and t respectively, are connectedas above stated to wire 29 whereby it will at once be seen that the coilB may be energized directly from the trolley'circuit by closing theswitch 29 upon the contact 25* and similarly coil C may be energizeddirectly from the trolley circuit by closing the switch 25 upon contactt the circuit in such cases being clearly indicated as follows: To thecoil B from wire 14:

through wire 29, contact 25 switch i wire 3 to coil B the remainder ofthe circuit being as already described while for the coil C the circuitis from wire 14 through wire 29, contact 6 switch t wire 23 to cd'il C,the remainder of this circuit being as already described. It will thusbe seen that the switches Z and t may be operated to effect the samesequence of operations of the apparatus on the car as would result fromthe engagement of the contacts Lt and a with a contact U whereby theindicator may be manually operated when desired, and it will be notedthat the order of the operation of such switches predetermines,

in the manner already described, the direction of movement of the band0.

From the foregoing it is believed, that the construction and operationof my station indicator mechanism is sufficiently clear to call for nofurther explanation.

-What I claim is 1. In combination with a station indicator located on acar or vehicle and comprising a band or strip of suitable materialbearing in proper order the names of the stations to be indicated;electro-magnetically controlled mechanism for advancing said band orstrip the space of one indication thereon at a time in either direction;a source of electric energy; a series of elements arranged along andadjacent to the pathway of the car, one such element located at eachpoint where it is desired to change the indication of the indicatorengaging means carried by the car comprising two separate members one inadvance of the other adapted to engage said elements and connectionsbetween said members and said electromagnetically controlled mechanismwhereby as said members engage each one of said elements in going ineither direction, said electromagnetically controlled mechanismis'actuated to advance said band or strip the space of one and only oneindication thereon in a direction automatically determined by thedirection of the travel of such engaging means relative to the elementsengaged thereby and independently of the stopping of the car at anypoint in its course.

2. In combination with a station indicator located on a car or vehicle,a series of elements arranged along and adjacent to the pathway of thecar, one such element located at each point where it is desired tochange the indication of the indicator; two engaging members carried bythe car adapted to engage, one in advance of the other, with saidelements and means whereby as said members engage each one of saidelements in going in either direction said indicator is actuated to givethe next indication. in a direction determined by the order of anengagement of such engaging members with such elements.

8. In combination with a station indicator located on a car or vehicleand comprising a band or strip of suitable material bearing in properorder the names of the stations to be indicated; electromagneti callycontrolled mechanism for advancing said band or strip the space of oneindication thereon at a time in either direction a source of electricenergy; a supply conductor connected to the source of electric energyand arranged adjacent to the pathway ot the car; a series of elementselectrically connected with the supply conductor and arranged along andadjacent thereto, one such element located at each point where it isdesired to change the indication of the indicator; an electric motor onthe car and an arm for connecting the motor to the supply conductor;engaging means carried by the car but insulated from the arm and adaptedto engage said elements and connections between said engaging means andsaid electromagnetically controlled mechanism whereby as the car passeseach one of said elements in going in either direction, saidelectromagnetically controlled mechanism is actuated to advance saidband or strip the space of one and only one indication thereon; in adirection automatically determined by the direction of the travel ofsuch engaging means relative to the elements engaged thereby.

HOWARD M. VAN DEMARK.

Witnesses:

Lo'r'rm W001), OSBORNE F. GURNEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for fivecents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of ZPatents, Washington, D. 0.

